Review Detail

Shelf cost of $119.98 total cost including tax $128.38 purchased 8/3/09 produced under the name Masterforce which from my understanding is a Menards exclusive product.
As an ex-employ of a company who produced raw panels for raised panel cabinet doors to furniture of all conceivable types made from all sorts of exotic hard woods you might say that I've seen it all and it would be an understatement to say that I got spoiled from working with some massive woodworking boy toys in that time as well.
In between that time I've changed jobs and am self employed working in the trades from painting to carpentry,to gutters and siding but I fell in love with the hobby of woodworking and one of my interest is luthiery work or guitar building and repair.Which when I build an electric guitar its necessary to have a good router.
If I had a dollar for every time I have heard the old saying don't scimp on tools I'd be rather wealthy(which I am not...)I have always followed this idea of being sure to have the right tools especially with my jobs this I tried to apply to my hobby and all my woodworking habits but in our economy sometimes you have to compromise.
While looking into replacing my old single speed craftsman which I never bothered to get a speed control for (which ended in it demise I might add)I looked high and low for something suitable and after a month of looking I decided it was time to go to Menards I had resided to the idea of a single speed fixed base Porter Cable router for $128.98 before taxes.
As I went down the isle where the power tools are located I noticed the Masterforce router combo kit,I needed some lumber so I went and bought that and gave some thought to this router combo kit as the pictures I loaded up in the listing for this show this router is not unlike the Porter Cable or a Bosch router,well I decided and purchased the combo.
Two days latter I put it through its paces as I had to do so outside the weather had been bad here for a couple days since my purchase,first up was a piece of scrap cedar I had laying around I put in a round over bit and as per the manufactures advice I dropped the speed on the router and cut a nice somewhat burn free round over as my bits are old I feel just the fact that their old and I hadn't used this router but this first time it was a bit of user error and old bits all in all the round over went well.
I moved on to pine once again the round over went well this time no burning,then I moved on to the final test and the what I feel to be the test of all routers hard wood for this run I was using ash after two hours of running this thing through different woods a multitude of different router bits and changing from fixed to plunger base I found this router to perform with authority in each task I put it to.
As an end set of thoughts if you want a router that is economical but yet performs to some very high standards this router is for you,there were a couple things I noticed that are just slight problems to me but I have to list them,first of all the case this router combo comes in also has a small storage box on the outside its slides into a slot molded into the carrying case.
Anyone who uses a router knows that you do not clump you bits together in a box like this as this will ultimately result in damage to your bits cutting edge,I also found the plunger base to feel sort of tight though I rarely use a plunge base for my work and this is something that I'm sure that I can work out by turning a screw.
All in all with those two things I would rate this router as a 9.9 out of a rating of 1-10,there you have it now for the specs.
Motor:11amp 2.0 HP soft start/variable 6 speed.
Base:fixed/plunge
Accessories:bit storage box on carrying case/carrying case/edge guide dust and chip collection for both bases(to be hooked up to shop vac etc.)
Warranty:5 year/also they offer an extra year warranty but what more could you ask for after five years.
Price:$119.98 before taxes.
Sorry for such a long winded review hope this helps someone though,and its also worth mentioning that this router has other available accessories if I'm not mistaken I think they even makes a shaper table with its on dog for top side raining and lowering stay tuned for my review of that one.